In August, we will be 13 years old and celebrate our B'nai Mitzvah (a bar mitzvah for twins). For our b'nai mitzvah, we were challenged to do a "mitzvah project". A mitzvah is a good deed. We were encouraged to do something close to our hearts and important to us.

If you know us, you know how different we are. We have different hobbies, different interests, different strengths and different weaknesses. We really wanted to do our Mitzvah Project together since we are studying together and going through this really important time together.

We have been involved with Fred Hutch since before we were born - a LONG time before we were born, actually - when our mom was 8 years old. We never got to meet our Grandpa, Jerry Jaffe (our mom's dad). When our mom was 8, he was diagnosed with Leukemia, a blood cancer. He was treated at Fred Hutch, but lost his battle with cancer in 1986 when our mom was 9 years old. Our mom became involved with Obliteride in its first year. We've been Finish-line cheerleaders, we've washed cars, we've sold lemonade, we've attended the Friday Night party, and we've seen our parents ride together every year. We knew this was the perfect Mitzvah Project that meant a lot to BOTH of us.

We're still too young to actually RIDE in Obliteride, but that's not stopping us. We've taken over our mom's team (Team Jerry Jaffe) for the year and set a goal to raise at least $18,000 for Obliteride! The number 18 is a special number in the Jewish Religion. The Hebrew word for eighteen is Chai (pronounced "hi"). The word "chai' translated from Hebrew to English means "life." Within the Jewish faith, the word "chai" possesses both numerical and symbolic meaning. In Judaism, the word "chai" is numerically significant and the number 18 is universally synonymous with this word. Numerically, the words consists of the eighth (8th) and tenth (10th) letters of the Hebrew alphabet Chet () and Yud (), adding up to eighteen the number 18, which is also the word "Chai". We couldn't think of a more important word to associate with Obliteride than "life".

Since we can't ride in the actual ride, we are teaming up together (with our parents) to train for and ride our OWN 25 mile route this August. We are asking you to support our Mitzvah project with any donation - big or small. Every single dollar you donate goes directly to Fred Hutch and the incredible cancer research they do. So by donating, you are not only supporting us, you are actually helping to save lives faster.

We hope we make a difference. We hope we hit our goal. We hope that you'll join us!